Tuesday (April 4th) is National Caregiver Day, in honour of the often invisible and unpaid labour of the caregiver workforce.

In November, Manitoba Possible (MP), formerly known as the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities, launched the Care Possible online platform to give Manitobans more control over their home care and respite services.

This week the non-profit celebrated a milestone, announcing the onboarding of 1,000 users across the province. 

"Care Possible is an online respite and home care solution that allows people looking for care services, like home care, to be connected to people who are offering those services in their community," said Lindsey Cooke, Director of Provincial Services for MP. 

According to a news release, the online platform features interactive maps, filtering criteria, communication tools, scheduling and a secure online payment system, making the administration of home care and respite a lot easier for Manitobans."

Cooke says they were surprised by the overwhelming response.

"We knew we had a great tool, but we thought we'd actually struggle to find care providers, and the opposite has happened. I often say I think we're cracking the code on the workforce issue, because we're empowering workers to be their own employers. They decide where they're working, how much they're working, they set their rate of pay, and they decide who they're working with. So we've actually had an overwhelming response on the care providers side and the same thing with clients. Clients want choice and control over their home care, and that's what the platform really offers them, the ability to find a perfect fit."

The platform was developed after MP heard from clients who were struggling to find qualified, caring, reliable care providers for home care or respite.

"A number of years ago, we started to meet with people who would stand to benefit from this type of technology in Manitoba to understand what they wanted. That was really the birth place of our platform: to understand from our clients this need that they had, and designing a system we thought would really seamlessly meet that need. That is how we came about this accessible online platform that allows them to meet care providers right in their community who have experience in providing care and are looking for work."

The government’s recent investment of $12.6-million to increase annual funding for self and family managed care allows people to take control of their care experience. In its news release, the non-profit acknowledges that many assume self-managed care is cost prohibitive, not realizing that it is an insured service for qualifying Manitobans.

"Often it doesn't come up at the initial home care appointments and doesn't come up until later in their experience of the home care system. Many people receive home care through their RHA, and that's a great service that a lot of people benefit from. But it's not for everyone," points out Cooke. "There is another model called self and family managed care. You still go through your RHA, there's still an assessment to determine the needs that you have. But then you are provided a budget, a subsidy to go out and purchase your own home care. And not everybody knows that's an option."

People seeking care and support workers can sign up at CarePossible.ca or by calling 204-975-3080. 

- With files from Chris Sumner -